Project Censored: The Top 10 Stories Under-Reported by the Mainstream Media

Published as the cover story in my local paper the Boulder Weekly, Project Censored offers the Top 10 Stories Under-Reported by the Mainstream Media. I love the cover.

Now here is the list with some brief highlights:

1. Signs of an emerging police statePresident George W. Bush is remembered largely for his role in curbing civil liberties in the name of his “war on terror.” But it’s President Obama who signed the 2012 NDAA, including its clause allowing for indefinite detention without trial for terrorism suspects.

2. Oceans in peril

3. U.S. deaths from FukushimaOn March 24, 2011, the task of collecting nuclear data had been handed off from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to the Nuclear Energy Institute, a nuclear industry lobbying group. And in one study that got little attention, scientists Joseph Mangano and Jeanette Sherman found that in the period following the Fukushima meltdowns, 14,000 more deaths than average were reported in the U.S., mostly among infants. Later, Mangono and Sherman updated the number to 22,000.

4. FBI agents responsible for terrorist plotsIn 243 of these cases, an informant was involved; in 49 cases, an informant actually led the plot. And “with three exceptions, all of the high-profile domestic terror plots of the last decade were actually FBI stings.”

5. Federal Reserve loaned trillions to major banksThese loans had significantly less interest and fewer conditions than the high-profile TARP bailouts, and were rife with conflicts of interest. Some examples: the CEO of JP Morgan Chase served as a board member of the New York Federal Reserve at the same time that his bank received more than $390 billion in financial assistance from the Fed. William Dudley, who is now the New York Federal Reserve president, was granted a conflict of interest waiver to let him keep investments in AIG and General Electric at the same time the companies were given bailout funds.

6. Small network of corporations run the global economyThey found that, of 43,060 transnational companies, 147 control 40 percent of total global wealth. The researchers also built a model visually demonstrating how the connections between companies — what it calls the “super entity.”

7. The International Year of Cooperative

8. NATO war crimes in Libya“Background knowledge and historical context confirming Al-Qaedaand Western involvement in the destabilization of the Gadaffi regime are also essential for making sense of corporate news narratives depicting the Libyan operation as a popular ‘uprising.’”

9. Prison slavery in the U.S.

10. H.R. 347 criminalizes protestOfficially called the Federal Restricted Grounds Improvement Act, the law makes it a felony to “knowingly” enter a zone restricted under the law, or engage in “disorderly or disruptive” conduct in or near the zones. The restricted zones include anywhere the Secret Service may be — places such as the White House, areas hosting events deemed “National Special Security Events,” or anywhere visited by the president, vice president and their immediate families; former presidents, vice presidents and certain family members; certain foreign dignitaries; major presidential and vice presidential candidates (within 120 days of an election); and other individuals as designated by a presidential executive order.

3 Comments

11. The markets aren’t free. They are centrally planned. Stocks are being propelled higher by the Federal Reserve and it’s cohort PD’s no matter how soft revenues or earnings are. Gold and silver are being monumentally supressed to portfolio channel everyone on earth into stocks. (What happens the day the Federal Reserve has to step away from all their unsustanable policies?)

Yeah. The bajillions of dollars loaned out by the FED is a crazy story. I shared it on facebook when it came out and the only reply I got was the sound of crickets. I think peoples’ dull cow eyes add another layer of glaze every time the word “trillion” comes up.

Side note, Just recently started following your site because your posts come up a lot in brotherjohnf’s blog.

I really think our country needs Term Limits on the House and Senate. Take away the perks that they have given themselves. Put them on the same Social Security system and health care plan we are on. Then you can see changes. They are looking out for number one and we the people are just palms to do as they want. This would help on issues that need to be taken care of.